The present invention relates to energy conservation systems and, more particularly, to an efficient system for heating and cooling a building while using a minimal amount of energy.
Conventional systems used for heating or cooling a building require large amounts of duct work to transmit conditioned air to each enclosed space, such as a room or a hall. Each enclosed space requires a separate duct for transmitting conditioned air to that space. When large numbers of spaces must be conditioned, an intricate network of ducts is required. This is particularly objectionable in light of the capital outlay for manufacturing, installing, and maintaining the ducts.
In addition, quite frequently the utilization of the space varies. Ordinarily, movable partitions are used to create specific offices within the space. Different office plans, then, require the rearrangement of these partitions. In the conventional system, each area enclosed by the partitions must be properly ventilated and this requires the location of one or more ducts in each area. Therefore, the number of office plans available will be limited because the ducts are installed at fixed locations.
Further, conventional systems for heating or cooling a building must be tailored to meet the requirements of the space to be treated. Therefore, the design of the conditioning system cannot be completed until the arrangement of the building space is determined.
Moreover, in air conditioning a building having ventilating ceilings using normal parameters the effective flow of air through the ventilating ceiling diminishes as the air travels away from the source. As a result, the effective flow of treated air through the ventilating ceiling will be non-uniform and portions of the space below may not be conditioned acceptably.
A principal advantage of the present system is that the component used for treating the environmental air is more efficiently utilized, permitting a reduction in energy consumption with an increased flow of treated air into the conditioned space.
A further advantage of the present invention is that the entire enclosed space is conditioned by the treated air and this space can be arranged in a wide variety of partitioning schemes.
An additional advantage of the present invention is that it can be designed without waiting for the completion of the design of specific partition arrangements and that identical air treating units can be utilized thereby minimizing construction expense.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the conditioning system is located above the space being conditioned, permitting more profitable utilization of that space.
A still further advantage of the present invention is that it is easy and inexpensive to maintain.
Other advantages will appear hereinafter.